About ENL

Welcome to Deer Park's ENL Program! ENL, or English as a New Language, is a language support program which helps students learn English. In Deer Park's ENL classes, students work on the four language modalities: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. See below for more information regarding the ENL program:

Why does my child receive ENL?

Upon registration, each family fills out a Home Language Questionnaire, or HLQ. This documents tells the district whether another language is spoken by the student and his/her family. Should the HLQ indicate that another language is spoken, Deer Park's ENL team conducts an individual interview with the child. Based on the student's responses, the ENL staff may use the NYSITELL (New York State Identification Test for English Language Learners) to determine the child's language proficiency level.

What are New York State's English Language Proficiency Levels?

Based upon a student's performance on the NYSITELL, he/she will identify as one of the following levels:

How often does my child receive ENL services?

For grades K-8:

Students who are Entering or Emerging receive a minimum of 80 minutes of daily ENL instruction. Students who are Transitioning or Expanding receive a minimum of 40 minutes of daily ENL instruction. Students who are Commanding receive ENL monitoring, which is the equivalent of a minimum of 20 minutes of daily ENL instruction.

For grades 9-12:

Students who are Entering receive a minimum of 120 minutes of daily ENL instruction. Emerging students receive a minimum of 80 minutes of daily ENL instruction. Students who are Transitioning or Expanding receive a minimum of 40 minutes of daily ENL instruction. Students who are Commanding receive ENL monitoring, which is the equivalent of a minimum of 20 minutes of daily ENL instruction.

What does my child do in ENL?

Students in ENL are meant to learn and practice English by means of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Depending upon the student's grade level, ENL teachers follow the same curriculum as the child's classroom or ELA teacher; these "Integrated ENL" classes simply add extra language support to these curricula. Additionally, if students are Entering or Emerging they also receive "Stand Alone ENL." These classes focus solely on language development.

How does my child "test out" of ENL?

Each year, students' English proficiency is assessed using the NYSESLAT (New York State English as a Second Language Achievement Test). This assessment measures student's English language proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. This assessment is used to determine a student's English Language Proficiency Level from year to year. It is also the only way for a student to exit the ENL program. For additional information on the NYSESLAT, please click here!

For additional information, please visit our Parent Information & Resources page!